This study mainly aims to determine the effect of the layered curriculum on the 6th grade students’ learning styles in science lesson. The study group consists of students in the 6/A and 6/D at Fevzi Cakmak Secondary School in the city center of Siirt-Turkey in the academic year of 2015-2016. “Learning Styles Inventory” developed by Kolb and translated into Turkish by Askar and Akkoyunlu, diaries of students and semi-structured interview form developed by researchers and examination of the documents were used as data collection tools. As for data analysis, percent (%) and chi-square techniques were used to determine the learning styles of students, but in the analysis of students’ opinions the descriptive analysis was used. During the study, students were also asked to express their experiences and considerations about learning activities via a diary. The thoughts and feelings reflected in the diaries of students were directly quoted in findings. As a result of the analysis, in pre-test results of the students in the experimental group exposed to the layered curriculum, a significant difference was found in terms of gender; however, no significant difference was found in their post-test results.

The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions about the importance of learning innovation toward critical thinking ability in learning mathematics. The subjects in this study are the teachers and the students of grade Vin Al-Islam 6 Al-Fajar, Muhammadiyah 23 and Cokroaminoto Islamic Elementary School Surakarta. The research method used in this research is qualitative case study. The problem in the research is the students' mathematics score is low that is seen from the results of the daily test’s students which showed 85% get grades below the minimal mastery criteria there is 60. The analysis technique used is triangulation. Validation used is qualitative descriptive. Based on the results of interviews to a number of teachers who teach mathematics in the fifth-grade in Pasarkliwon sub-district, it can be concluded that students' critical thinking ability in mathematics is low so that it is required innovative learning model used by the teachers.

Energy literacy is a minimum required capacity for developing a sustainable society that participates in and discusses on energy and environmental (EE) issues. Understanding the energy literacy structure is of significant importance for providing effective energy education to promote people’s awareness of EE issues. In this article, an energy literacy structural model integrated with the Theory of Planned Behavior and Value-Belief-Norm Theory was investigated for 1070 lower secondary students (ages 13-15) in Japan. Structural equation modeling uncovered that the awareness of consequences is the most powerful predictor for the causality between basic energy knowledge and energy-saving behavior through the attitude toward the energy-saving behavior. A conditional process analysis elucidated that (1) the conditional effect of basic energy knowledge on the awareness of consequences depends on scientific literacy, critical thinking ability, and environmental worldview, and (2) the conditional direct and indirect effects in the mediation model of awareness of consequences on the attitude toward energy-saving behavior through the ascription of responsibility depend on environmental worldview or values and family discussion of energy-related issues. The energy literacy model proposed provides a theoretical contribution to the development of an effective energy education program.

Pictologics (PLS) is a language teaching method which relies on imaginative usage of pictures. The current paper reports the effects of applying this method on enhancing critical thinking ability of the Malaysian students. 69 students (32 boys & 37 girls) in two classes in a public primary school in Penang, Malaysia participated in this study. The experiment covered ten 1-hour sessions which were all audio-recorded and video-taped. The main objective was to engage the students in short conversations in English by using new words that they were learning via PLS. The following qualitative instruments were employed in this study: interviews with the teachers, focus group interviews with the students, a group interview with students’ parents, class check-list of the students’ behavior during the sessions, photos, and video footages. The findings reveal significant patterns of critical thinking among the students such as recognizing and criticizing assumptions, giving reasons to support a conclusion, incorporating isolated data into a wider framework, and using analogies to solve problems. The author strongly recommends application of adopted PLS techniques to be used either alone, or combined with the other conventional language teaching methods.

This study aims to conduct Turkish adaptation, validity and reliability studies of the Teacher Rating Scales of Early Academic Competence. This study also aims to examine and improve early academic competence thoroughly on the basis of teachers’ ratings in Turkey, and lastly to contribute an assessment and measurement instrument to the literature which will enable to conduct further research in the field. This study was designed in a general survey model. The study included normally developing 619 36-72 month-old preschoolers attending to nursery classes and kindergartens affiliated to Afyonkarahisar Ministry of National Education in 2015-2016 academic year. The validity and reliability studies of the data obtained following the implementation of TRS-EAC, was completed. The Cronbach Alpha, split half test, test-retest reliability of the scale and its subscales were measured. TRS-EAC was found to be valid and reliable for 36-72 month-old children. It can be considered that the various studies that can be used TRS-EAC in Turkey will provide important contributions to the measurement power of this test.

The aim of the study is to examine the pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels according to different variables and to determine whether there is a relationship between them. The research was designed as a descriptive study in the survey model. The sample of the study consists of 1st and 4th grade pre-service teachers in the departments of German, Science, English, Mathematics, Music, Pre-school, Painting, English, Mathematics, Turkish Language Teaching at a university in Turkey. “Curiosity Scale” adapted into Turkish by Demirel and Diker Coskun, “Problem Solving Inventory” adapted into Turkish by Sahin, Sahin and Heppner  and “Personal Information Form” prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data obtained, SPSS-Windows 22.00 package program was used and descriptive statistics and parametric tests were applied in accordance with the sub-problems of the study. In addition, a correlation analysis was conducted to determine whether there was a relationship between pre-service teachers’ problem solving skills and curiosity levels. Based on the findings, suggestions about the problem solving skills and curiosity levels of the prospective teachers were presented.

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationship between the art interests and critical thinking dispositions of the students who study fine arts education in the faculty of education. The sample of the research consisted of 236 fine arts education students including 123 from the department of painting teaching and 113 from the department of music education. In the research, relational survey method was used. It was found in the research that the art interests of the students were at the level that can be considered as good. In addition, it was noticed that the average scores of critical thinking dispositions of the students were at moderate level. One of the findings obtained from the study was that there was no significant difference between the scores of art interest and critical thinking according to gender. Another finding was that art interests of the students in the music department were significantly higher compared with the scores of the students in the department of art education. In addition, a positive moderate level of relationship was found between the art interest and critical thinking, analyticity, inquisitiveness sub-dimensions; significantly low positive relationship with self-confidence, systematicity, searching truth and cognitive maturity sub-dimensions.

This research examines the English language teachers’ motivations related to the usage of role-playing on English language practice in rural secondary schools in Ecuador. The sample consists of 45 English language teachers who work in public schools located in the rural and urban areas of the province of Manabi. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative research approaches is applied to analyze teachers’ motivations about using role-plays in English class and analyze the relationships between teaching motivations and the factors: teachers’ gender and work location. The instruments are (1) Focus group guide to collect participants' voices about the language practice at schools; and the (2) Likert questionnaire created by the research team, titled: Teachers' perceptions about role-play contribution on the foreign language acquisition process. The statistical analysis shows significant relationships between teachers’ perceptions and the factors in gender and work location. It is concluded that English teachers, both female and male from rural and urban locations in Ecuador, are highly motivated to use role-play in secondary schools as a teaching strategy, in spite of the demand of extra time and energy required, because it promotes in teachers and students the collaborative and creative learning; and improves their confidence to express their ideas and feelings using English as a foreign language.

This study aims to explore the effect of savoring of teachers at universities in Shandong, China, on their creative behaviors, using creative self-efficacy and aesthetic experience as mediators. This study adopted the use of questionnaires to investigate teachers at 32 universities in Shandong, China. 822 valid questionnaires were retrieved and were analyzed using structural equation model (SEM). Findings from this study include: 1. teachers’ savoring has a negative effect on creative behaviors; 2. teachers’ creative self-efficacy has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 3. teachers’ aesthetic experience has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 4. teachers’ savoring, mediated by creative self-efficacy, has a positive effect on creative behaviors; 5. teachers’ savoring, mediated by aesthetic experience, has a positive effect on creative behaviors.

This study describes the development and validation of a psychometrically-sound instrument, the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), designed to measure learners’ perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Active learning encompasses a broad range of pedagogical practices and instructional methods that connect with an individual learner's active learning strategies. In order to fulfill the study's goals, a conceptual framework on learners’ active learning strategies was developed and proposed, drawing upon the research literature on active learning. The development and construct validation of the Active Learning Strategies Inventory (ALSI), based on the conceptual and methodological underpinnings, involved identifying five scales of learners’ active learning strategies: engagement, cognitive processing, orientation to learning, readiness to learn and motivational orientation. An item pool of 20 items was generated following an extensive review of the literature, standardized card sorting procedures including confirmatory factor analysis and scale validation of a pilot (n = 407) survey. The ALSI scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability with a Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.81 to 0.87. High item loading scores from the factor analysis provided initial support for the instrument's construct validity of the five-factor model. The ALSI scale provides a reliable and valid method for researchers and academicians who wish to measure learners' perceptions of their active learning strategies within an active learning context. Finally, we discuss the implications and address the limitations and directions for future research.

The purpose of the current study is to determine pre-service teachers’ perception of individual entrepreneurship and opinions about their critical thinking tendency. As the data collection tools, the Individual Entrepreneurship Perception Scale and the Marmara Creative Thinking Tendencies Scale were used in the current study. The participants of the study are 469 freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students attending the Departments of Pre-school Teacher Education and Primary School Teacher Education. In the analysis of the collected data, frequencies, percentages, independent samples t-test, Mann Whitney U test and correlation analysis were employed. The findings obtained from the analyses have revealed that the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies vary significantly depending on the variables of gender and whether they took a course/seminar on entrepreneurship. The pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be not varying significantly depending on the department attended. The pre-service teachers’ personal entrepreneurship perceptions and creative thinking tendencies were found to be above medium. A highly positive and significant correlation was found between the pre-service teachers’ individual entrepreneurship perception and creative thinking tendency total scores. The pre-service teachers can be encouraged to take the course “Economics and Entrepreneurship” and to participate in certificate programs on entrepreneurship.

This research aims to explore the effectiveness of interdisciplinary education program based on multicultural education on the tolerance value, attitude and critical thinking skills of the fourth grade primary school students. Single group pre-posttest design has been used in the study. The research has been carried out with 30 fourth-grade students, at a primary school located within the district of Karakocan in Elazig during the 2015-2016 academic year. Among the participants, 15 are females and 15 are males. The research has employed Tolerance Attitude Scale developed by Kaptan-Yarar, tolerance value and critical thinking story tests and scoring rubrics. Descriptive statistics and dependent samples t-test have been used during data analysis. Research results have revealed a statistically significant difference between critical thinking scoring rubric, tolerance value scoring rubric and tolerance attitude scale pretest-posttest scores in favor of posttest. Based on these results, it can be said that the interdisciplinary curriculum developed based on multicultural education improves students' critical thinking skills, tolerance value and attitudes.

Two new instruments were created to assess secondary students’ (ages 14-18) spatial learning attitudes and their interest in science and technology, related careers ideas and perceptions about geospatial technologies. These instruments were designed to evaluate the outcomes of a geospatial learning curriculum project. During a two-year period, we explored the use of these instruments during the prototype testing and pilot testing of a series of socio-environmental science investigations. The instruments were implemented with 664 ninth grade urban students from a population traditionally underrepresented in STEM-related fields. Both classical and Rasch analyses were conducted each year to optimize the instruments. The resulting 24-item Student Interest in Science, Technology and Geospatial Technology (STEM-GEO) measure and 9-item Spatial Learning Attitudes (SLA) measure had high internal consistency reliabilities (Cronbach’s Alpha) as well as acceptable Rasch reliabilities. Content validity and construct validity evidence were also summarized and discussed.

This study aimed to develop an instructional design that focuses on programming teaching for gifted and talented students and to investigate its effects on the teaching process. During the development of the instructional design; the steps of Morrison, Ross and Kemp Instructional Design Model were followed. Embedded experimental design, one of the mixed-method research designs, was used in the modeling of the study. The participants consisted of students studying at the Science and Art Center (BILSEM) (experimental group: 13 girls and 12 boys, control group: 10 girls and 15 boys). While the instructional design developed by the researchers was applied to the gifted and talented students in the experimental group, the standard activities used in Information Technologies and Software Courses at BILSEM were applied to the gifted and talented students in the control group. “Computational Thinking Scale (CTS)”, “Torrance Creative Thinking Test (TCTT-Figural)” and “Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale (CPSES)” were used to collect the data of the quantitative phase of the study. Qualitative data were gathered by using interview form, observation forms, and design thinking rubric. Two-Factor ANOVA Test, Bonferroni Adjustment Multiple Comparisons Test, and interaction graphs were used to analyze quantitative data while qualitative data were analyzed by content analysis. The quantitative results of the research showed that the instructional design was effective on students' computational thinking and creative thinking skills, but not on programming self-efficacy. Qualitative findings revealed that the instructional design helped the students learn the computational concepts, use computational applications, and develop computational-perspectives. Also, students improved their design thinking skills to a certain level and expressed that they enjoyed the design thinking process, learned the course content, and experienced some difficulties.

Kelley’s Discrimination Index (DI) is a simple and robust, classical non-parametric short-cut to estimate the item discrimination power (IDP) in the practical educational settings. Unlike item–total correlation, DI can reach the ultimate values of +1 and ‒1, and it is stable against the outliers. Because of the computational easiness, DI is specifically suitable for the rough estimation where the sophisticated tools for item analysis such as IRT modelling are not available as is usual, for example, in the classroom testing. Unlike most of the other traditional indices for IDP, DI uses only the extreme cases of the ordered dataset in the estimation. One deficiency of DI is that it suits only for dichotomous datasets. This article generalizes DI to allow polytomous dataset and flexible cut-offs for selecting the extreme cases. A new algorithm based on the concept of the characteristic vector of the item is introduced to compute the generalized DI (GDI). A new visual method for item analysis, the cut-off curve, is introduced based on the procedure called exhaustive splitting.

A new index of item discrimination power (IDP), dimension-corrected Somers’ D (D2) is proposed. Somers’ D is one of the superior alternatives for item–total- (Rit) and item–rest correlation (Rir) in reflecting the real IDP with items with scales 0/1 and 0/1/2, that is, up to three categories. D also reaches the extreme value +1 and ‒1 correctly while Rit and Rir cannot reach the ultimate values in the real-life testing settings. However, when the item has four categories or more, Somers’ D underestimates IDP more than Pearson correlation. A simple correction to Somers’ D in the polytomous case seems to lead to be effective in item analysis settings.  In the simulation with real-life items, D2 showed very few cases of obvious underestimation and practically no cases of obvious overestimation. With certain restrictions discussed in the article, D2 seems to be a good alternative for these classic estimators not only with dichotomous items but also with the polytomous ones. In general, the magnitudes of the estimates by D2 are higher than those by Rit, Rir, and polychoric correlation and they seem to be close of those of bi- and polyserial correlation coefficients without out-of-range values.

The curriculum of an elementary school of Indonesian education currently emphasizes the affective aspects as a result of student learning for the sustainability of national development. This fact encourages teachers the responsibility to create and develop effective learning tools to foster tolerance, nationalism, be communicative and friendly, love peace, and social care. The objective of the study is to analyze the needs of students in elementary schools towards the development of educational comics to foster character development. This study uses qualitative approach. Participants were 120 fifth grade students. A questionnaire was used to collect the data of the study. The data were analyzed using an interactive model. The results of the study revealed that there was an interest of students in comic media as a teaching aid containing local wisdom values for character education. In the aspect of construction, comics are needed that are related to the ideal scope and size of the comics. In the aspect of content required comic material set in a national culture containing local wisdom, presentation of the story with the contents of an illustration of nationalism and social awareness. As for the design aspect and appearance, characterizations of cartoons are needed, involving a variety of colors, fonts of proportional size. The conclusion of this research is the development of educational comics media with local wisdom is needed to fulfill the needs of elementary school students as an effort to foster character.

Xenophobia, being hostile to foreigners and feeling fear of them, is considered as hating and having prejudices against the people of other nations. It is noticed that with the increase of migration movements on a global scale in recent years, xenophobia has become one of the more critical subjects in the scientific world. Determining the relationships between xenophobic attitudes and personal traits is considered as one of the important steps in developing relationships especially among people from different cultures. By detecting positive personality traits and negative personality traits associated with xenophobia, interpersonal relationships can be developed. Accordingly, in the current study, it is aimed to determine the relationships between xenophobia and personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, and Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy). For this purpose, data were collected from 422 (342 females, 80 males) university students via the data collection tools, which are “Xenophobia Scale”, “Adjectives Based Personality Test” and “Dirty Dozen Scale”. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression technique. As a result of the analyzes, it has been observed that agreeableness, which is among the five-factor personality traits, and psychopathy and narcissism, which are among the dark triad-personality traits predicted xenophobia significantly. Accordingly, it was determined that the agreeable people had lower levels of xenophobic attitudes. Psychopathy and narcissism personality traits have been observed to lead to higher levels of xenophobic attitudes.

Today’s individuals are expected to have skills in many areas as a natural consequence of the advances that have been taking place in society and technology. Particularly in developed countries, these skills are also called 21^st century skills. Critical, creative and reflective thinking, problem solving and keeping up with the digital age (digital literacy) are some of these skills. Universities play a significant role in raising qualified individuals in our country. Updating the training programs, keeping up with the era and having a say in the digital world makes it a necessity for people who give education in these areas to be competent. From this point of view, this study aimed to explore the digital literacy levels of Turkish academics working in faculties of education and the perceptions of students towards technology integration competence of the academics. In this study, quantitative cross-sectional design was preferred. While selecting the participants, purposeful sampling method was used, and two different participant groups (academics and prospective teachers) were included in the process. Two scales with validity and reliability in the literature were used as data collection tools in the research. In the data collection process, firstly, a survey was administered to academics working in faculties of education, and then another one was conducted with prospective teachers. The results obtained were subjected to quantitative data analysis via SPSS 24 and AMOS 24 software, and descriptive and inferential statistics were generated. The results revealed that the variables of department, age and grade level created a significant difference in the digitalization of academics, whereas the gender variable significantly contributed only to the perceptions of prospective teachers.

Although Goodman–Kruskal gamma (G) is used relatively rarely it has promising potential as a coefficient of association in educational settings.  Characteristics of G are studied in three sub-studies related to educational measurement settings. G appears to be unexpectedly appealing as an estimator of association between an item and a score because it strictly indicates the probability to get a correct answer in the test item given the score, and it accurately produces perfect latent association irrespective of distributions, degrees of freedom, number of tied pairs and tied values in the variables, or the difficulty levels in the items. However, it underestimates the association in an obvious manner when the number of categories in the item is more than four. Towards this, a dimension-corrected G (G2) is proposed and its characteristics are studied. Both G and G2 appear to be promising alternatives in measurement modelling settings, G with binary items and G2 with binary, polytomous and mixed datasets.